1. You hold us in your arms, our Mama,
Dreamed into being by holy love,
Placed in this world of awesome beauty,
With all below, beside, above.

2. Your blood runs azure in our rivers.
Your waters break in oceans green.
Your sweetness flows in crimson maple.
Your brilliance gleams in frosty sheen.

3. Instead of love we seek dominion
We build our empires without heed or care.
O rock us, Mama, back into tending,
With graciousness, in the home we share.

4. Restore the guardians of ancient wisdom.
Unsettle us with brave insight.
Come find us amid all precious creatures,
Together healing and making right.

Lyrics: Jennifer Henry (March 2026)
Tune options: “The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, Is Ended” (437 in Voices United)

Prayer for Ash Wednesday

We are dust–

cosmic remnant of stars,

soot glistening in the sunlight,

embers flickering warmth,

dark fertile soil.

We are stuff that matters,

one, with all our relations,

as common and extraordinary

as is the Earth.

Creator, we are dust,

and to You–our home–we shall return.

Amen.

Words: Jennifer Henry

2021

Thanksgiving

Return kindness to the sun and the moon and the stars.  Return kindness to the mountains and the deserts and the waters.  Return kindness to the swimmers and the flyers and the fur bearing ones.  Return kindness to all living things.  May we show gratitude to the Creator through respect of the earth and kindness to the beings we are placed among.  May thanksgiving transform our hearts and gratitude ground our hopeful action.

Words and image:Jennifer Henry

October 2025

Mothering

Creator, we give thanks for all those who mother in diverse and wonderful ways. We celebrate opportunities to gather and lament the distance that might be between us at this time. May we find words and ways to express our gratitude. 

We pray:

Encircle us in your transforming love.

For the mothers who build peace all around the world that the lives of their children might be transformed. For the mothers of Russians and Ukrainians, Israelis and Palestinians, all who daily  resist making enemy.  May the origins of this day be honored with deepened commitment to peace.

We pray:

Encircle us in your transforming love.

For those seeking to mother who are denied, for those who grieve their mothers, for mothers who grieve their children, and for those for whom the word “mother” is pain and not comfort. May your story be honoured.

We pray:

Encircle us in your transforming love.

For our Mother the earth, wounded by our neglect and excess. For her resilience and capacity to redeem, regenerate, and resurrect.  May we learn from what she teaches about how to truly live.

We pray:

Encircle us in your transforming love.

We lift all these prayers to you, Creator. With  Mothering love, receive our prayers.

Amen

Words and image: Jennifer Henry

May, 2022

Holy One, across this aching world we come to you with many names, each a glimpse of the good and sacred mystery beyond humanity’s grasp.

Help us to see ourselves as branches on a common tree of life, relatives who share a common home.

Amen

Words and image: Jennifer Henry

January 2022

A Prayer for Creation

Creator, you loved this world into being.

Rustling grasslands, spectacular mountains, lush forests, quiet desserts —

your handmade landscape welcomes us home.

Mysterious seas, rushing rivers,

calm lakes, playful ponds —

your intricate waterways offer abundant life.

You set us here,

among winged, gilled, scaled

and furbearing relatives, to live in gratitude and respect.

Call us into your love song of creation.

Forgive us our disregard for the earth’s health and integrity.

Renew our relations with all living things.

Engage our gifts in the protection of this vulnerable planet.

We ask this in the name of our brother who walked this precious earth among us.

Amen

Words: Jennifer Henry

Image: Ryan Hyde, Unsplash

April 22, 2021

For All Who Mother,

Creator, we give thanks for all those who mother in diverse and wonderful ways. May we find words and ways to express our gratitude.

For the mothers who build peace all around the world that the lives of their children might be transformed. May the origins of this day be honored with our deepened commitment to peace.

For the mothers of Black sons, of Indigenous daughters, of all racialized children. May racist violence and white supremacy end and safety, equity and justice for all children be made real.

For the spiritual mothers, chosen mothers, mothers of history and mothers of movements who have helped to bring about change in church and world.  May our lives and our choices build on their legacy. 

For those seeking to mother who are denied, for those who grieve their mothers, for mothers who grieve their children, and for those for whom the word “mother” is pain and not comfort. May your stories be honoured.

For our Mother the Earth, who is wounded by our neglect and excess. May we learn from what she is teaching us about how to truly live.

We lift all these prayers to you, Creator. With your Mothering love, receive our prayers. Amen

Words: Jennifer Henry

May 9, 2020